


Print to Happiness

by house_of_lantis



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/house_of_lantis/pseuds/house_of_lantis
Summary: Prompt: You print stuff out on my wireless printer – you’re an actor because you’ve been printing out your headshot and resume and you are so beautiful





	Print to Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally part of my Marvel one-shot collection of fics (now deleted).

[](https://imgur.com/PngiRDz)

On Saturdays, Steve liked to curl up on his couch, eat far too many chocolate covered almonds, and marathon a random TV show on Netflix. Today found him completely enraptured by “House of Cards” and he had spent far too much time lazying about in his small Brooklyn apartment, his laptop plugged into his TV, and unable to look away from the machinations of the two power hungry Underwoods.

He was reaching for the almost empty container of chocolate almonds when he heard the familiar click and whir of his printer engaging. He pushed up on his elbows and frowned, looking around his apartment, stupidly wondering why his laptop was printing something.

He got to his feet and walked to his desk, arms crossed as he watched the printer roll out a full color picture of a very attractive face.

“Well, hello there,” he murmured, picking up what looked like a headshot photograph of a man named James Barnes.

It was a very pretty face, almost familiar in a way, with a pair of gorgeous blue eyes, and a bit of scruff and long hair that was probably naturally wavy. He wore a royal blue button-down shirt, which was a good choice because it complemented James’s blue eyes, his pale pink lips, and healthy complexion. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who was vain about his looks; confident and a little playful with his smile and the crinkles at the corners of his eyes.

Steve narrowed his eyes and stared at the picture, trying to remember if he ever saw James in their building. Maybe there was that one time when he saw a man wearing a baseball hat leaving on a bicycle.

The printer engaged again and began to print out the professional acting resume for James Barnes. Steve waited for it to finish printing, wondering if there was a contact number for James. He could just imagine James’s frustration, wondering why his printer wasn’t working. It must be a wireless network issue, Steve thought, curious how an actor’s resume looked like.

James listed his home address as 255 Ainsley Street, Brooklyn, but no apartment number; he had an agent named Alexander Pierce with HYDRA Entertainment Agency. Steve wasn’t that familiar with Hollywood stuff, but even he had heard of HYDRA Entertainment. They only represented A-List actors and took on up-and-coming talent. Steve remembered overhearing office gossip about a famous actress suing HYDRA for mismanaging several million dollars in her salary. He hoped that James Barnes was getting his share of his money.

Steve continued reading, his eyebrows lifting in pleased surprise at the familiar titles of movies and TV shows that James was on. He had a lot of supporting roles and seemed to be just starting to take on lead roles; Steve itched to see if the titles were on Netflix and to get online and look up James Barnes on Wikipedia or IMDB. It was kind of exciting to know that there was a professional working actor living in the same building.

There were only seven units in their small brownstone, but Steve hadn’t met most of the people who lived in the building. There were two units on each floor, three floors total, and a unit in the basement that was for the brownstone’s resident handyman, Clint. Most of the units were modest, loft-type apartments, the top two units were one-bedroom apartments. The only thing Steve knew about his neighbor in 2A, Natasha, was that she traveled a lot for work and he never knew when she was actually home.  Steve kept fairly regular work hours as a well-paid prototype designer for Stark Industries.

Surely, Steve would have recognized seeing James – if anything because the man was gorgeous and was no doubt a head turner.  

The printer started going through another print cycle and Steve hit the OFF button quickly; no sense in wasting through anymore of the color ink in his printer.

“Sorry, James,” Steve murmured, making a face. He looked at the resume again and didn’t find any contact information, but there was an email address. “Well…it couldn’t hurt; at least it’ll ease his mind that he’s not going crazy or anything.”

He walked back to the couch, bringing the two pieces of paper with him and setting it on the coffee table next to his laptop. He opened his GMAIL account and typed in [JBBARNES@gmail.com](mailto:JBBARNES@gmail.com) and sent off a brief message:

_Hi James,_

_I’m Steve Rogers, your neighbor in apartment 2B. I’ve been receiving print outs of his photograph and resume on my wireless printer. I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t be going crazy wondering why it wasn’t printing on your printer._

_Steve_

Good deed done, he grinned and rewound the timeline for the latest episode and leaned back on his couch, pulling one of the plush couch pillows into his arms. He was just settling in when there was a knock on his door. He got to his feet and checked the eye hole and inhaled sharply when he saw James Barnes standing outside his door.

Taking a few calming breaths, he smoothed down his hair and his rumpled Stark Industries tee-shirt and sweatpants, and then unlocked the bolts, opening the door.

“Hey,” James said, giving a nervous smile. “I got your email. Hey, man, I’m sorry about wasting your printer ink. I’ll pay you back if—“

“No, no, it’s okay,” Steve said, licking his lips and trying not to stare. James Barnes was even prettier in real life. The picture didn’t do justice to the color of his eyes – blue with a bit of gray – or to the width of his shoulders and the muscles in his arms.

James laughed, running a hand over his face. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ve been trying to get my wireless printer to print for the last hour and nothing was coming out. I spent twenty minutes on the phone talking to their customer service rep – neither of us could figure out what was wrong. I swear, for just a minute, I thought that my apartment was haunted by a ghost or something.”

“Well, I’m glad you know that your apartment’s not haunted,” he said, trying not to stare. He cleared his throat. “It could’ve been worse; you could’ve been trying to print out your bank statement or confidential documents or something.”

“Right; or you know, my nudes,” James said, barking out a laugh that sounded nervous and forced. Steve raised his eyebrows and pressed his lips together, grinning. “Not that I have nudes!” James winced and then laughed at himself, shaking his head. “Don’t listen to me, I’m still kind of anxious from my audition this afternoon and the printer mess and…”

“Hey, you want to come in for a drink? A beer?”

James took a deep breath and smiled. “You know, I’d love a beer, thanks Steve.”

He waved James into his apartment. “Take a seat; you sound like you could use a break.”

Steve gathered two beers from his fridge, popped up the tops, and walked back into the living room. James was holding the print outs in his hands, a rueful smile on his lips. He set them down when Steve handed him the bottle.

“Thanks,” James said, sitting back on the couch and taking a long drink.

“So…James—“

“Bucky.”

“Pardon?”

“My name – well, my nickname – is Bucky,” he said, grinning.

Steve smiled, finding the nickname fitting. “Bucky. Okay. So…you had an audition this afternoon?”

“Yeah,” he said, setting the beer on his knee and looking at Steve. “My new agent, he’s really aggressive, he wants me to stop fucking around in small indie movies and start working on mainstream, big studio jobs. In the past month, I’ve gone to about 120 auditions and callbacks and table readings and photo shoots and costume fittings…it’s kind of been overwhelming, to be honest.” He took a deep breath and sighed. “Not that I have anything to complain about – and I’m not complaining – since this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it’s just that…I think my career is getting on a certain kind of track now and I don’t know if I’m ready for…everything.”

“Wow,” Steve said, not knowing what else to say.

James – Bucky – made a face and rolled his eyes. “Sorry, man, I’m just whining. I don’t want to be one of those douchebags who talks about himself and being an ‘ _act-tor’_  and all that bullshit.”

“What do you love doing more?”

Bucky grinned. “Honestly? Theatre. It’s my first love; a live audience, instant feedback. It’s kind of addicting…but you can’t really get paid as a lowly theatre actor.”

“Which is why your new agent wants you to try for the bigger movies.”

“They come with bigger paychecks and my agent gets a bigger percentage. Yeah,” Bucky murmured, thumbnail picking at the paper label of the beer bottle. “Anyway…so, Steve Rogers, what do you do?”

Steve laughed, rolling his eyes. “I work for Stark Industries; I design prototypes.”

Bucky turned and stared at him. “So what’s Tony Stark really like?”

“Genius, billionaire, philanthropist, playboy.”

“Do you get to see the big man at all? He’s like totally hidden up in his Tower, right? Unless he’s rolling through the city in one of his expensive cars and trolling for hotties.”

Steve shrugged. “I work FOR him, actually. I’m one of his primary prototype designers, before his designs go to Stark R&D division. He sends me a bunch of blue prints and I try to decipher their meaning and redesign his ideas into something that people can read. He’s brilliant, actually; take away his tabloid reputation and he’s just a mechanic at heart.”

Bucky bit his bottom lip and gave Steve a teasing smile. “Someone’s got a little crush, huh?”

Steve felt his face heat up a little, but he laughed and shook his head. “I’m pretty sure a guy like Tony Stark is way out of my league.”

“Hell, don’t sweat it, man, I have a little crush on Tony Stark, too,” Bucky said, chuckling deeply. Steve watched as Bucky got a faraway look in his blue eyes, something thoughtful and sad in them. “Just because a person has all that money and fame and celebrity…it might not mean nothing, you know? I mean, people forget that even famous people are, at the end of the day, just people, like you and me.” He took a deep breath, eyebrows rising high on his forehead. “Anyway, it sounds like you actually get to know a Tony Stark that none of us ever will.”

Steve took a sip of his beer. “So when you get to be one of those famous people, I’ll remember to quote you, if anyone ever asks. I’ll say that I knew Bucky Barnes when he was doing theatre and indie movies and that he was always a down-to-earth kind of guy.”

Bucky looked at him. “You swear?”

“Not in front of my ma,” he said, chuckling.

Bucky rolled his eyes and smirked. “You a Brooklyn boy? I can hear your accent.”

“Born and bred,” he said, cocking his head and looking at Bucky. “But you’re not, even though you kind of slip into a New York accent now and then.”

“No, from Indiana, originally,” he said, leaning back into the couch. “Came out here to go to NYU; I started doing a lot of stage work pretty much from the start.”

“Hey, do me a favor, okay? Will you autograph your photo for me?” Steve said, smiling at him. “I’m going to put it in my office; I bet there are people in my office who’ll recognize you.”

Bucky narrowed his eyes and gave him a mock glare. “Are you saying that YOU didn’t recognize me, punk?”

“I was going to look up your IMBD later,” he admitted, chuckling. “I’ve heard of the stuff that you’ve been in, though. I’m sure if I watched it again, I’d recognize you.”

“Story of my life,” Bucky said, laughing softly.

Steve watched as Bucky sat up, putting his beer bottle on the table, and rooted around the coffee table for a pen. He uncapped it and stared at his headshot for a moment, then signed his name on the bottom right corner.

“Better keep good care of it; might be worth something on eBay someday,” Bucky teased, putting the cap back on the pen and setting it down next to Steve’s sketchbook.

“I’m sure it will,” Steve said, good-naturedly. He chuckled and shook his head. “You know that if you do become a famous celebrity that I’m not going to say anything about you in public, right? I was just kidding about that. Discretion and privacy mean something to me.”

Bucky smiled at him, the edges of his eyes crinkling. “I’m really enjoying the fact that you seem to know that I’m going to be a famous celebrity one day. Thanks, man, I appreciate the support.”

“Hey! I’m totally going to be your number one fan…as soon as I go back and watch your stuff again so I can remember what role you had.”

Bucky gave him an incredulous look and then his handsome face broke into a wide smile; a deep, throaty laughter spilling from his mouth.

“You’re a punk, aren’t you, Stevie?”

“Guilty as charged.” He felt his face heat from the affectionate nickname.

They smiled at each other for a long moment, letting the eye contact linger beyond simple acquaintance level of contact.

“Now that the mystery of the wireless printer is solved, I’ll get out of your hair,” Bucky said, softly, getting to his feet slowly.

Steve followed, trying to rack his brain to come up with something to say that would get Bucky to stay for a little while longer. “Sure, yeah, yeah…”

“Thanks for the beer, Steve.”

“Anytime, Bucky,” he murmured, following Bucky to his door. “You know…”

Bucky turned and looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Which apartment are you in? How can we live in the same building and not even run into each other once?”

“I’m in 1A,” he said, smiling at him. “You probably don’t see me a lot because of the weird hours. I work like three part-time jobs in between acting gigs so…and I go out the back door. It’s easier since I have my bike chained up there.”

Steve smiled and nodded, swallowing thickly. “So, Buck, if you have a night free soon…maybe you’d like to go out to dinner with me?”

“Like on a date?” Bucky said, licking his bottom lip.

“Yeah,” he said, his eyes glued to Bucky’s pink tongue. He met Bucky’s eyes and blushed, caught out while staring at Bucky’s mouth.

Bucky licked his bottom lip again and cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, Stevie, I’d like that.”


End file.
